I have finally made a decision on downsizing

[Ivory]

I think I have finally made a decision about reducing my herdsize.

As of today, I have 17 does with litters under 8 weeks.

Six litters between 8 and 12 weeks.

I doe that failed to kindle and has just been rebred.

Two open does who lost their litters due to my carelessness.

Four bucks.

Four cull bucks.

Twenty empty cages and 5 empty colony pens, all of which were full last year. That tells me how much I have downsized already.

Two horses and a donkey.

Various chickens and ducks.

I will advertise the gelding and the donkey, hopefully someone will take both of them.
A friend will take the mare, don`t know yet if she understands that I`d like to be paid for her or if she thinks I`m giving her away.

The poultry can stay, they`re very little trouble and they cost next to nothing to keep.

I will keep:

The Beveran buck
The 3 Flemish does and their current offspring
The pair of black rabbits I don`t know the breed of and their offspring. I think I should be able to breed these and sell them as breeding stock in future.

That`s about 25 rabbits total.

I haven`t decided yet if I`m going to breed any of these three again this year.

Everything else will be sold or culled when they are weaned.

I`m still hoping to get a doe for my Beveran buck.

I hope that by documenting this here, I will actually do it. Feel free to kick my butt if I find excuses to keep anything.

 

[grumpy]

Ivory,

A couple of years ago...I was in the same situation as yourself.
(Rabbit-Wise) I mean. I'd gotten rid of all the critters except
Mama's chickens.

At the time of my decision, I had 43 holes in the Main Room.
All cages had an occupant. Not all of them deserved/earned
the right, to be there. Regardless of their (position in my mind)
I began looking only at their production cards.
I ended up with 8 does and 3 bucks. The rest went to the snake man.

That's the best decision I've ever made.
Every doe, every buck, was their because of their record.
Once that happened, the rabbitry really started clicking.
It's been "easy" ever since.

You've made up your mind. You'll stick with your decision, because,
It's the right thing to do.

grumpy.

 

[avdpas77]

I couldn't say it any better.
Still I tend to hang on to certain animals that I have a plan for.
4 cull bucks? why do you still have them?

 

[Ivory]

I hope I can stick with my decision Grumpy.

I'm not good at culling animals, I always like to give them another chance, but I can't go through another winter with the number of critters I have at present.

On the other hand, if I get rid of everything I'll turn into a couch potato/computer junkie and that's as bad for my health as doing too much.

One of my problems is that I'm good at raising rabbits, but I'm useless at selling them, I won't sell anything but the best. I keep all the rubbish back, but I don't kill them, I just keep feeding them!!! Every so often I give the culls away to a friend who turns them into dog food.

So this is my plan for when all the "other" rabbits are gone:

For the first time ever, I have a really good quality Flemish doe, I had her bred to an even better quality buck and she's just had her first litter. I'm hoping that by line breeding I might be able to produce a show winner or two.

My other Flemish doe is the one I just rebred, I'll keep her kits as future breeders for producing pet quality kits, you never know, she might produce a stunner too. This doe doesn't have the greatest track record as a mother, but she has a great temperament and she's clean so she would make a great house rabbit. I already have a home lined up for her if she doesn't get pregnant.

The third Flemish doe has a cross Beveran litter. When I had Beveram/Flemish crosses last summer I could have sold lots of them, but only two does survived. I sold one and kept the other, the B!##*^ dog killed her when her first litter was only three days old. I want to keep the does from this litter and breed them back to their father, I'm hoping that will make them even more desirable as breeding stock.

Lastly, I have the anonymous pair. They weigh about 9 pounds (I actually weighed them this time) and they're built like bricks. Their offspring should give me a small but quality meat rabbit line.

One other thing I need to do is get better at sexing young rabbits. I don't have a problem if they're older, but small rabbits always look like does to me. I got a phone call the other day from a guy I sold three does and a buck to in April. Only I didn't - I sold him three bucks and a doe. Luckily he was OK about it, but I was horrified. He's coming next week for two more does

Sorry I rambled on so, but that's my plan. No winter breeding, only one or two litter per doe per year. No accidental breeding.<br /><br />__________ Fri Jun 14, 2013 10:25 am __________<br /><br />

I couldn't say it any better.
Still I tend to hang on to certain animals that I have a plan for.
4 cull bucks? why do you still have them?

Because I HATE KILLING RABBITS and I'm not very efficient at processing them.

Every day when I feed them I tell myself, "I'll dispatch you tomorrow."

There's been a lot of tomorrows but they're still here.

Back in March when I was busy holding Davey's hand and praying that he wouldn't die, I asked my friend to take all the grower bucks and as many does as he could use. He took everything except four "does" which he said were too small. They turned out to be three bucks and one doe. The fourth buck was one that had escaped and I managed to catch in one of the empty cages.

Sorry, I'm rambling again.

 

[TMTex]

Good luck, Ivory! I'm a little too soft when it comes to processing bunnies too. I'll do it, but it's not pleasant.

I have favorites in there too, and my wife has a non-producing pet. Sometimes, the line can get hazy when a rabbit has a good personality.

 

[Ivory]

Thanks TMTesx.

 

[ReiLossefalme]

I found a good way to force myself to dress out rabbits: I remove their food the day before. If I don't feed them Thursday morning or Friday morning, I feel I *must* process then Friday night or Saturday morning at the latest. This clears out their system a bit, and gives me a far more absolute deadline than just telling myself "tomorrow" or even writing it down on the calendar.
Hope that helps

 

[grumpy]

It's tough at times to eliminate them.

My feed bill runs $13.00-$14.00 per day.
I went through about 75#'s of feed last night.
Which bumped my pocket-book about twenty bucks.

That's a chunk of change, I know, but all will be sold eventually.
One good thing about my rabbits....
They all look the same..LOL...
I've got a couple of herd bucks that big babies.
Once their production capabilities are over, they'll be gone as well.
It'll be tough, but it has to be done.

grumpy.

 

[Ivory]

Two of the four bucks dispatched and in the freezer this morning.

 

[skysthelimit]

This made me smile. I'm the total opposite. I had atleast a hundred kits born last year, of which I kept three.

Probably 75% of the rabbits born here are culled by 10 weeks.

 

[Kyle@theWintertime]

Two of the four bucks dispatched and in the freezer this morning.

Hooray!!!